Barcelona’s Lionel Messi out for up to eight weeks with knee injury

Lionel Messi suffered a knee injury in the opening stages of Barcelona’s La Liga match against Las Palmas, forcing his substitution after 10 minutes and leaving him on the sidelines for up to two months.

The Argentina forward went down after just three minutes, hurting his knee after shooting under pressure from the Las Palmas defender Pedro Bigas Rigo. Messi received treatment and returned to the pitch, but was unable to continue and was substituted by Luis Enrique, with Munir El Haddadi coming on in his place.

After Barcelona ran out 2-1 winners, thanks to a double from Luis Suárez, Barcelona issued a statement that read: “Messi has a torn lateral collateral ligament in his left knee. He’ll be out for approximately seven to eight weeks.”

Messi’s injury compounded a bad week for the defending Spanish champions. They lost their 100% record on Wednesday as they were stunned by Celta Vigo, losing 4-1 at the Estadio de Balaídos, while Neymar has faced allegations of tax evasion. Barcelona face Bayer Leverkusen at home in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, before a league match at Sevilla next Sunday.